FanPost

Good First day, Annoying Second.

I like the 1st pick. Lots of upside and hopefully he can hit. Seems like most scouts think he will fill out, great defense and good makeup. All signs point to a good pick in a top 5 talent pool with question marks for everyone. (Is anyone else concerned that Johnson compares him to Aaron Hicks? Hicks is not exactly a success story at this point in his career)

I like the 2nd Pick. A Young HS pitcher who has upside from PR where the Twins have scouted well in the past. He pitched against top talent on the Island and he could be a good one.

In general I like the all or nothing approach with these picks. It shows that they didn’t like any of the college pitchers enough so they went very young and projectable instead. I like that they will trust their scouts and throw these two into the GCL with some of their other young picks from last year. (Though it does cover their ass for a few years if one of the top pitchers does really well in the majors, they can say “just wait for Buxton” as they start looking for new jobs.)

The annoying part after the jump

After the First two picks the Twins draft gets weird and clearly Bill Smith broke into the room and started making decisions.

Bard? Melotakis? Some other "power arm" guys? They can be classified as "power arms" the same way Jim Hoey can be a power arm. Good mph, but issues that make them destined for a question mark.

There are some nice names here, like Walker whose power potential seems OK. But mostly I was annoyed they didn’t pick the HS pitcher from MN or some other HS pitcher from some other state.

I was looking for a guy who would be either a stud pitcher or flame out. Instead they drafted a bunch of guys who are already projected to be bullpen arms. – Which is important. But in general its easier to find Bullpen help in FA and in the dumpster than a good starting pitcher. So with HS pitchers on the board like Brown and probably others, why wouldn’t they take the risk?

If they took just one more high upside High School kid I could call this a great draft. Then Terry Ryan and the scouts could sleep soundly knowing they made me happy.

Instead I am grouchy and pouring over previous drafts wondering why the hell they took Gutierrez so high, why didn’t they offer Wong a lot of money right away, and why the hell didn’t they learn from their previous mistakes.

(and how the hell did they not score a run against Chen)